battalion, "Grenadiers!"[172] said he, to them, "we are retreating
without being conquered by the enemy; let us not be vanquished by
ourselves! Set an example to the army. Several of you have already
deserted your colors, and even thrown away your arms. I have no wish to
have recourse to military laws to put a stop to this disorder, but
appeal entirely to your sense of duty. Do justice to yourselves. To your
own honor I commit the maintenance of your discipline!"

The other troops he addressed in a similar style. These few words were
quite sufficient to the old grenadiers, who probably had no occasion for
them. The others received them with acclamations; but an hour afterward,
when the march was resumed, they were entirely forgotten. As to his rear
guard, throwing the blame of this wild alarm mostly upon it, he sent an
angry message to Davoust on the subject.

At Orcha we found rather an abundant supply of provisions, a bridge
equipage of sixty boats, with all its appurtenances, which we burned,
and thirty-six pieces of cannon, with their horses, which were
distributed between Davoust, Eugene, and Latour-Maubourg.

Napoleon entered Orcha with six thousand guards, the remains of
thirty-five thousand! Eugene, with eighteen hundred soldiers, the
remains of forty-two thousand! and Davoust, with four thousand, the
remains of seventy thousand!

This marshal had lost everything, was actually without linen, and
emaciated with hunger. He seized upon a loaf, which was offered him by
one of his comrades, and voraciously devoured it. A handkerchief was
given him to wipe his face, which was white with frost. He exclaimed
"that none but men with constitutions of iron could support such trials;
that it was physically impossible to resist them; that there were limits
to human strength, the utmost of which had been exceeded."

The emperor made fruitless efforts to check this general despondency.
When alone, he was heard compassionating the sufferings of his soldiers;
but in their presence, even upon that point, he wished to appear
inflexible. He issued a proclamation, "ordering all who had deserted
their ranks to return to them: if they did not, he would strip the
officers of their commissions, and the soldiers should be shot."

A threat like this produced no impression whatever upon men who had
become insensible, or were reduced to despair, fleeing not from danger,
but from suffering, and caring as little for the death with which